


The Full Christmas Experience

by Chocolatequeen



Series: True Things [6]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Shopping, Christmas Tree, Established Relationship, F/M, Married Couple, Telepathic Bond, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:21:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27888949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chocolatequeen/pseuds/Chocolatequeen
Summary: The Doctor and Rose are on their way back to London to celebrate Christmas with Jackie. But they make a few stops along the way... Sequel to Lesson Learned, part of True Things.
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Series: True Things [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/391627
Comments: 9
Kudos: 110
Collections: 31 Days of Ficmas 2020





	The Full Christmas Experience

**Day 3**

Ch 1:

The Doctor moved slowly around the console, shifting each dial deliberately. Rose rolled her eyes; he was purposely stalling, and they both knew it.

_Still…_ She stuck her tongue out slightly while she thought.

“You know what?” she asked, after making up her mind.

The Doctor looked at her hopefully, his hand stopped in midair halfway to the dematerialisation lever.

“There’s one thing we’ve forgotten—presents!”

He blinked owlishly at her. “Presents?”

Rose bit her cheek to hold back her laughter. “Yeah. I mean, if we’re gonna go to Mum’s for Christmas, we should bring presents, shouldn’t we?”

The Doctor stared at her for a few more seconds, then his face brightened and he spun away from the lever, moving back to the navigation controls.

“Right you are, Rose Tyler! And if we need Christmas presents, there’s really only one place to go: the holiday market on Noel.”

“Noel.”

“Yep!”

“There’s a planet named Christmas?”

“Well yes, but we’re going to Noel. We can visit Christmas next year.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “All right, fine. Tell me more about _Noel_ ,” she said.

The Doctor finished setting their new coordinates and then shoved the lever into place. Holiday music started playing as the TARDIS shifted into the Vortex.

“Noel was settled in the 34th century.” He hopped up on the jump seat with Rose and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “A group of human explorers landed on Christmas Day, and for some reason beknownst only to them, they decided to name it after the date.”

“Like Easter Island,” Rose interjected.

“Exactly,” he agreed. “Anyway, they didn’t really intend to become a holiday destination, but with a name like that, it’s hard to avoid. Eventually, after two centuries, they quit fighting the inevitable. Now, the entire planet becomes a massive Christmas market during the winter.”

Rose raised an eyebrow. “Unless their star system is different than ours, the entire planet doesn’t experience winter at the same time,” she pointed out.”

He rolled his eyes. “All right, fine. The main city on the main continent becomes a massive Christmas market during the winter months.” He huffed. “That just doesn’t sound nearly as dramatic.”

Rose laughed, just as the TARDIS wheezed and dropped them onto Noel with a gentle thud. “Come on, I think this is going to plenty impressive, even if it isn’t a planet-wide market.”

She hopped off the seat and wrapped her scarf around her neck. The Doctor darted past her and opened the door for her.

Rose started smiling when she heard the merry strains of Christmas music floating into the console room. She jogged up the ramp and stopped stock still at the door.

The entire city looked like something out of a fairy tale. There were hints of a modern society if you knew where to look—hover carts, etc—but the buildings and the streets looked incredible.

Garland was strung between the buildings on the narrow street. A light dusting of snow covered the cobblestones, and the sun shone down on it, making everything glisten.

A familiar scent teased her nose, and she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Smells like cinnamon and clove,” she said, without opening her eyes.

“And apple and roasted chestnuts and mulled wine.”

Rose opened her eyes and looked at the Doctor, taking in the broad grin on his face and the way he bounced on his toes. “You think you’re so impressive,” she teased.

The Doctor had to swallow a giggle, he was feeling so giddy. He rocked back on his heels, his hands in his coat pockets. “I mean… I did bring you to the perfect Christmas market,” he said nonchalantly. “I think that’s _a little_ impressive.”

Rose closed the door and walked towards him, her tongue teasing him from behind her teeth. He watched her, holding still as she placed her hands on the lapels of his coat.

“Maybe a little,” she allowed. “So… what’s next, Doctor?”

He placed his hands on her waist and pulled her close. _A Christmas kiss, to start the day?_ he suggested as he bumped his nose against hers. She giggled, and he quickly shifted and pressed his lips to hers.

Rose leaned into him for a moment, but too soon for his taste, she pulled back, ending the kiss. “Come on,” she said. “We can find mistletoe later and continue. Right now I want to find out what smells so good.”

The Doctor took her hand, lacing their fingers together. “Excellent idea,” he agreed.

He watched Rose as they walked down the narrow street. She’d been impressed by her first sight of Noel, but she had yet to see the true beauty of the market.

Rose’s eyes widened as they stepped out into the open town plaza. The space was as large as Trafalgar Square, and it was absolutely packed with holiday booths and people doing their holiday shopping.

An enormous tree stood in the centre of the market, its boughs decorated with red garland and gold bows. High on top sat a star that lit up the square every night.

On the town hall stairs, a small group of carollers were singing. Shoppers rushed by, but no matter how hurried they were, every one of them stopped to drop a few coins in the bucket placed on the street in front of them.

“Doctor, this is…” Rose turned in a slow circle, trying to take it all in.

The Doctor let her soak it in, then tugged on her hand. “Come on, food is this way.”

They followed their noses and were very soon standing in line at a concessions booth selling pastries.

Soon they were walking away from the stand, pastries in hand. “This is amazing,” Rose said around a mouthful of food. “Is it apple, or something like apple?”

The Doctor took a bite of his own pumpkin scone and hummed before answering. “Close enough to not make a difference,” he answered once he’d swallowed.

While they ate their pastries, they did a full circuit of the market. The Doctor was surprised when Rose grabbed his hand and pulled him in a very determined direction as soon as their pastries were done.

“Come on,” she told him, sensing his confusion. “I saw some places I wanna check out.”

He understood then; Rose had paid attention to the shops and booths as they’d walked and made a mental map of the path she wanted to take.

The market was busy, but Rose wove her way in and out of the crowd, intent on returning to the clothing booth she’d spotted. Several sellers tried to catch her attention, but she didn’t stop.

“I thought we might find something for Mum here,” she told the Doctor when they reached the booth.

The Doctor reached out and touched one of the tops, and nodded approvingly. “Excellent idea.”

“May I ask who you’re buying for?” the vendor asked.

Rose smiled at her. “I need a Christmas present for my mum. Do you have anything that might be especially appropriate for someone living in a city where it rains all the time?”

The seller brightened. “Of course!” She walked straight to a rack of jackets and coats. “These are all 100% waterproof,” she told them.

“Oh!” Rose walked over and looked at the jackets. “They’re pretty, too.”

“Thank you. My family makes them.”

Rose felt the Doctor come up behind her. He reached around her and touched one of the jackets. “Is it rezista?” he asked.

“Yes, it is.” The woman raised an eyebrow. “You’re more familiar with our native fibres than most visitors.”

The Doctor flashed her a winning smile. “Well, when a world has a truly waterproof fabric, that’s pretty appealing to travellers,” he pointed out.

Rose tuned them out for the most part, browsing through the rack of jackets looking for one she thought Jackie would like. There were some that appealed to her, with sleek, slim lines etc etc. But she knew her mum—if she offered anything with a style too different from her own, Jackie would get upset and think she was trying to change her.

When she got to the last item on the rack and still hadn’t found anything she thought Jackie would like, she sighed. The shopkeeper, attuned to the sound of a disappointed customer, turned immediately.

“I have a few other items that I haven’t put out, plus some of last year’s items that didn’t sell,” she said. “Would you like to see those?”

Rose bit her lip. There was nothing on this rack to indicate that the shop had anything that would appeal to Jackie, but she really didn’t want to walk away empty handed.

“Yeah, all right.”

The woman nodded and hurried to the back of the booth. Meanwhile, the Doctor moved closer and wrapped an arm loosely around her waist.

_Nothing that you think Jackie would like?_ He asked.

_Nah, everything so far would make her rant about airs and graces again, and how living on the Estate was always good enough before and why did we need to change?_

The Doctor grimaced; he’d overheard that argument more than once since meeting Rose. It never made any sense to him that a parent wouldn’t want their child to have a better life than they’d had. But, he supposed it was the implication that the old life hadn’t been good enough that grated.

He felt Rose tense slightly when the saleslady came back with an armful of coats. “Here we are,” she said, draping them over her table.

The Doctor and Rose both spotted the right one immediately.

“That one,” he said, pointing to the puffy jacket.

“Yeah, definitely,” Rose agreed.

The woman smiled. “I can give you a discount on this coat,” she said. “This is the one I spoke of, the style we tried last year that no one seemed to be interested in.” She set the coat aside. “Is there anything else you would like?”

Despite knowing it was a sales tactic, the Doctor still felt interested in looking around the shop some more. The benevolent gesture of the discount had done its work once again.

“What about you, love?” He gestured at the coat and warm tops. “You don’t really have a good coat to wear in the rain.”

Rose rolled her eyes. _A raincoat would be more helpful if we knew it was going to be raining when we left the TARDIS,_ she pointed out.

The Doctor tugged on his ear. It was true that most times when they got caught in bad weather, it was because their landing had gone a bit south. Or north, or early, or late… Anyway. If they landed when he expected, they rarely ran into foul weather.

Still…

_I can keep it in my coat pocket,_ he reminded her. _Stashed away for a rainy day._

Rose rolled her eyes again at his ridiculous pun, but she did move back to the first rack of jackets. The Doctor wasn’t surprised when she pulled one out without needing to browse the rack again. The deep blue, knee length coat had caught her eyes when she’d looked the first time.

“We’ll take these,” he told the shopkeeper, handing over their credit stick.

Two minutes later, they were leaving the shop with a bulky package in hand. Without needing to consult each other, they wordlessly went back to the TARDIS to drop them off.

“All right, what’s next?” Rose asked the Doctor.

“Don’t you have other shops you want to check out?” he asked.

“Well yeah, but why don’t we just roam for a bit? See if something catches our eye.” She winked at him. “See if maybe there’s some kind of dangerous alien activity that needs our intervention.”

The Doctor pouted. “This trip has been perfectly—”

Rose slapped her hand over his mouth, muffling the rest of his words. “Don’t you dare,” she said, laughter in her words. “Don’t you dare jinx us like that.”

She felt his lips move, but the sound was still muffled. With one more warning glare, she pulled her hand back.

“Fiiiiiine,” he said, with an exaggerated pout. “Let’s go walk through the market and see if we can find any nefarious aliens looking to overturn the holiday fun.”

Rose nodded once, sharply. “Better.”

She slid her hand through the Doctor’s arm as they walked back to the main part of the market. There were a few other booths she wanted to explore, but honestly it was enough to just be here, on this magical planet, exploring it with her Doctor.

The Doctor hummed when he picked up on that thought, and a moment later, he let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist instead, pulling in close.

_I love you,_ he told her as he brushed his lips over her temple.

_Love you too._

They stopped in front of the city hall again and watched the new group of musicians. This time, it was a brass ensemble. Thankfully, they weren’t dressed as Santas. Rose didn’t think she could have stood there watching a group of trombone playing Santas.

The Doctor laughed. “Quite right,” he agreed.

She pressed her tongue to the back of her teeth. The Santas had brought back another memory from the previous year.

“Could we take Mum a new tree?” she asked. “I mean, she thought we sent her a new tree last year—that’s why she accepted it.”

“And you’re thinking that maybe she’d actually appreciate a new tree?” the Doctor said.

Rose nodded. “She’s had hers since I was… God, I don’t even know. Since I was a kid,” she said. “Maybe she’d like something new.”

The Doctor looked down at her, and Rose bit her lip to hide her excitement. He had a plan.

“Is she set on having an artificial tree, or would she maybe be interested in a real tree?” he asked.

Rose put her hands over her mouth. “We never had a real tree,” she said. “I always wanted one, but we never could.”

He nodded. “There’s a Christmas tree farm outside of town. We can go later this afternoon, or maybe tomorrow if we end up spending the whole day shopping.”

Rose clapped her hands. “That would be amazing. Thank you, Doctor.”

Shouts of laughter drew their attention to the large park that ran along one side of the market square. “Come on,” Rose said, pulling the Doctor in that direction. “That sounds like something I want to be involved in.”

As they wound their way through the park, Rose noticed the wide swaths of pristine snow covering the ground. Tall evergreen trees towered over the park, their branches weighed down with snow.

“It’s like something off one of those old Christmas cards,” she said.

The Doctor nodded. “It’ll nearly be like a picture print by Currier and Ives,” he sang.

“These wonderful things are the things we’ll remember all through our lives,” Rose replied.

The Doctor grinned at her. Despite the cold, his hearts were warm as he walked through the park with his wife. As far as ideas went, this was one of… He paused. One of Rose’s better ones.

They drew to a halt suddenly when a snowball whizzed by them. The Doctor looked around and realised they’d walked right into the middle of a snowball fight.

“Mind if we join in?” he called out.

A second later, a snowball hit him on the shoulder. The buzz of giddy amusement and exhilaration he felt over the bond told him exactly who had thrown it.

“Oh, you will regret that Rose Tyler,” he growled as he spun around.

But Rose wasn’t standing next to him anymore. He spotted her red coat disappearing into the trees and took chase. Snowballs flew through the air all around him, but he ignored the rest of the party.

Another snowball flew out of nowhere, and the Doctor only missed it by ducking and rolling. Rose laughed, and he leapt to his feet and chased after her as she ran from one cover to another.

Rose darted from one tree to another, trying to hold back her breathless laughter. She could feel the constant tug on the bond as the Doctor used it to keep track of where she was. However, that advantage worked both ways, and she was easily able to stay one step ahead of him.

But skulking in the bushes wasn’t really her style. A large snow fort stood on the opposite side of the clearing, and Rose was itching to reach it.

She peered around her tree, looking in both directions. At the same time, she tried to pull back from the bond as much as possible, hoping it would temporarily make it harder for him to find her.

And then she ran. Halfway across the clearing, she heard a familiar shout and footsteps crunching through the snow. She stretched her legs, trying to run just a little bit faster, but about ten feet from the fort, the Doctor slammed into her from the side, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her to the ground.

Rose rolled, trying to get out of his hold, but the Doctor rolled with her, pinning her to the ground every time. “Gotcha,” he growled.

The rough voice sent a shiver down her spine that had nothing to do with the snow going down her back. “Yeah, you do,” she said breathlessly. “What are you going to do about it?”

The Doctor didn’t need any other invitation. He swooped down and pressed his lips to hers.

Rose sighed and tilted her head, letting him deepen the kiss. It might be cold and wet, but there was still no place she would rather be at that moment than on her back in the snow with the Doctor kissing her.

Finally, though, the jeers of the kids around them penetrated their private world. The Doctor pulled back and smirked down at Rose. “I suppose we’ve given them enough of a show.” He rocked back on his knees, then jumped to his feet.

Rose accepted the hand he offered and let him pull her up. She shivered when the air hit her wet back.

“I wish I was wearing that waterproof coat right now,” she said, rubbing her hands briskly over her arms. “I hate to take time to go change, but I think we need to.”

The Doctor shook his head and twirled his sonic screwdriver around his fingers. “Nah, I can dry us off in a jiffy,” he said.

Rose sighed in relief. “Come on, let’s get out of the way first.”

The Doctor nodded, and they walked away from the main snowball fight back to the path that led around the park. Once they were no longer in danger of being smacked in the face with an errant snowball, he stopped walking and started waving the sonic round her in circles.

“The sonic is creating molecule excitation,” he explained. “The water molecules in your coat are vibrating in tune to the frequency of sonic waves, and that’s causing them to evaporate.”

Rose sighed when he was done. Before he could start waving the sonic over himself, Rose took the device from him. “Like this, yeah?” she said, waving it over him in slow passes.

She was fascinated by the steam rising out of the brown wool coat. “That is amazing,” she murmured.

“Faster than a laundrette,” the Doctor said as he turned around to face her.

Rose laughed and finished drying him off. “Much,” she agreed. The Doctor took the sonic back and offered his hand, and they strolled through the park the way they’d come.

They were almost to the entrance of the park when Rose started shivering. Even though the Doctor had dried them off with the sonic, now that she wasn’t running across the park trying to avoid being hit by a snowball, she could feel how cold it was.

The Doctor pulled her close. “Come on,” he said. “It’s time for some Christmas cheer.”

Rose hummed her agreement. Some kind of hot beverage was exactly what the Doctor ordered at this point.

Thankfully, the beverage stand was one of the few that was completely enclosed. Rose sighed in delight when they stepped out of the cold wind. They still had to wait in line, but even that just gave them a chance to warm up.

“What do you want?” The Doctor pointed at the menu on the wall behind the person selling drinks.

Mulled wine was the first item on the list, and Rose almost selected it without looking further. She kept going though, reading past the various hot chocolates, coffees, and hot toddies.

The last item on the list caught her fancy. “Hot buttered rum,” she told him.

“Ooh, I like that. I haven’t had that in… er, ages,” he said.

Rose giggled. _Well done,_ she told him. _Not spouting out that you’re well over a thousand years old._

The Doctor tugged on his ear. “Welllll…” he said.

They finally reached the front of the line, and the Doctor placed their order. A few minutes later, they were walking out of the shop holding steaming mugs of hot buttered rum.

“I like that it comes in a mug,” Rose commented. “It’s like a little souvenir of this trip.”

She brought the mug up to her nose and sniffed. “Smells all warm and rich and spicy,” she said.

The Doctor took a big swallow of his drink and somehow managed to swallow it even though it was still steaming. “It’s delicious,” he said.

Rose grabbed his tie and tugged him down for a kiss. The Doctor flailed slightly, but managed to keep his mug upright while she snogged him thoroughly.

When she stepped back and straightened his tie, he gaped down at her. “Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?”

Rose looked up at him through her eyelashes. “You had a moustache,” she explained. “I was just helping.” It sounded very innocent, but the way the tip of her tongue showed through her smile suggested otherwise.

The Doctor chuckled. “Well, feel free to kiss anything else off of me.”

It was a sentence that only six months ago would have made them both blush and start stammering explanations. Today, he leaned into the innuendo, using their bond to offer a whole host of suggestions.

Rose sucked in a breath, but somehow managed to speak. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, her voice almost even.

Then she immediately took a sip of her own drink. “Oh, this is divine,” she moaned, licking the foam off her upper lip.

“The perfect thing to warm you up from the inside out,” the Doctor agreed.

The sun was low in the sky as they circled the market another time, drinking their hot buttered rum. There was one kind of shop Rose hadn’t found yet, much to her surprise. Finally, just as the sun was setting, she found it—a large shop specialising in Christmas decorations.

“I wanna get Mum an ornament or something,” she told the Doctor when she slowed to a stop. “Maybe something with the planet name on it? It’d be fun for her to have something that represents our travels, and no one else would bat an eyelash.”

The Doctor agreed, and they ducked into the packed store.

Unlike the first booth, here the salesperson left them alone to browse. Rose felt herself relax. It was a cultural thing, but even after years travelling with the Doctor, she wasn’t used to the overly helpful salesperson.

Left alone to browse, she slowly wandered the store, handing things to the Doctor as she found them.

“This is beautiful,” she said, carefully taking the delicate ornament off the tree. She held it for a moment before she noticed something different. “Doctor?”

He smiled. “Yep! Futuristic snow globes don’t need to be shaken for the snow to… snow. That ornament will constantly show snow falling, whether someone touches it or not.”

“I love it.”

oOoOo

It was dark when they left the shop. The market hadn’t slowed down; if anything the crowds had gotten thicker. “What are they all here for?” she said.

The Doctor took her hand and led her to the edge of the square. “Just watch,” he said.

Rose stared out at the plaza, trying to understand what she was watching for. Then she saw a light. First one, then a second. Then after that, dozens of lights floated up from the square.

“What are they?” Rose whispered.

“Remembrance lanterns,” he said, just as softly. “Every year, the city gathers on the third day of the festival to celebrate those who have been lost in the last year. The families make their own lanterns and bring them to the square on this day. The holiday lights are dimmed, and the lanterns are lit and released to the sky.”

Rose’s breath caught as she watched the spectacle. It was beautiful before; knowing what it symbolised made it absolutely stunning.

“I’m glad I don’t need to let one go,” she said, the words escaping her before she really thought them through. “I could set one off for Mickey, I suppose. It hurt to lose him. But it doesn’t hurt nearly as much as losing Mum would. And…” She bit her lip. “And sometimes I can’t help but remember that we almost lost each other.”

The Doctor shivered and pulled Rose close. The way the timelines had been pulling, trying to get Rose to leave him, he suspected that had been the primary timeline. But they had changed things. Jackie had changed things. And that’s why they could all be together.

“Happy Christmas, Doctor.”

“Happy Christmas, Rose.”


End file.
